Mozilla ponders stripping customization options from Firefox

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Firefox users have always appreciated how customizable the browser is, but lately Mozilla is wondering if it’s time to clean things up a bit. There are hundreds of millions of Firefox users, and not all of them find the numerous checkboxes on its preferences screen useful. In fact, one Mozilla study found that fewer than 2% of Firefox users bother fiddling with those settings.

Alex Limi, who is now Mozilla’s head of project design strategy, is concerned that many of those checkboxes are doing more harm than good. Limi points to examples like the content tab’s load images and enable JavaScript toggles. Unchecking images can have all kinds of undesirable and unexpected effects — like making the search box on Google’s home page disappear. And disabling JavaScript? Why would anyone that does… well, basically anything … on the web in 2013 want to disable JavaScript completely?

Then there are obscure switches like the the SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 boxes on the encryption settings screen. Take the checks out, and there’s a good chance that Gmail, Google Reader (R.I.P.), and even Facebook and Twitter will quit working for you — thanks to that whole SSL by default push that’s been going on for the last couple of years.

Limi also wonders whether right-clicking the Firefox toolbar really needs to list the navigation toolbar. Without it, the vast majority of Firefox users would have an incredibly hard time pulling up a page in the browser and it’s not that hard to imagine a couple of errant clicks from a frantic user taking the required checkmark out. Not everyone’s up to speed on Firefox’s numerous hotkeys, after all. With the navigation toolbar gone, Firefox hardly looks like a browser — and that’s bad news for Mozilla.

All of these checkboxes can unintentionally break Firefox, and that breakage could very well lead some users to think that it’s time to find a browser that’s less likely to break. Preventing that situation might be as simple as redesigning — and minimizing — the Firefox preferences screens.

But don’t fret, power users. Even if Mozilla does decide that the time has come to do a little Google-esque spring cleaning, you’ll always be able to customize your browser. Those settings are all tied to entries on the about:config page or lines in the userchrome.css file, where you can tweak things to your heart’s content. Ultimately, what Limi’s pitching is interface clean-up, not cracking down on Firefox personalization.

If you really want to remove your navigation bar, you’ll still be able to.